"an invaluable study of the Church's social teachings.
... recommend[ed] highly to anyone serious about understanding the Church's
teaching on the economic issues of our era." James K. Fitzpatrick, The
Wanderer.

"... the bulk of the book is
organized around the social encyclicals themselves, with a chapter for each
encyclical. The author summarizes the contents of each encyclical as well as
giving information about the circumstances of their composition, their
reception by both Catholics and others, and insights and reflections about the
general trend of papal social teaching and its importance for the Church.
Throughout his book Ederer highlights several constant themes which are common
to all or most of the encyclicals. One of these is the increasing importance of
the virtue of solidarity, which since the 1960s has been mentioned with greater
and greater frequency in the social encyclicals. Ederer points out that the
great Jesuit economist, Heinrich Pesch (1854-1926) made solidarity a major
point of his economic work. Pesch ... is without doubt the single most
influential Catholic economist in history. The fact that he is almost unknown
among American Catholics speaks volumes about our seriousness in pursuing truly
Catholic social aims. ... Ederer, unlike the neo-conservatives with their
tendentious interpretations, does not regard Centesimus Annus as a sweeping
benediction bestowed upon American capitalism. He discusses what the Pope
really said, and notes how this teaching ought to be applied both here and
abroad. In particular Ederer devotes space to a discussion of what exactly the
word "capitalism" means, and how it is used differently by the Holy
Father and by his neo-conservative commentators. The result of this is that
those who are looking for papal blessings on our own economic arrangements will
have to wait longer, for as of now they simply do not exist." Thomas
Storck, Caelum
Et Terra.